If Forrest Griffin (18-7 MMA, 9-5 UFC) is anything, he’s a creature of habit, whether that habit is self-loathing, sarcasm or training.

The former two have endeared the former light heavyweight champ to fans since his win on “The Ultimate Fighter 1.” The latter has kept him going after setbacks, and will keep him going after he fights former champ Tito Ortiz (16-10-1 MMA, 15-10-1 UFC) at UFC 148.

“I like training camps,” Griffin said today. “You’ve got to get out of bed and do something, and wrestling around with dudes is what I want to do.”

The subject of retirement was in the air today during a Q&A session in support of UFC 148, which takes place Saturday at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas (main-card fights air on pay-per-view while prelims air on FX). The co-main event between Griffin and Ortiz serves not only as a rubber match but also as Ortiz’s retirement fight.

Most of the session’s questions were directed at Ortiz’s decision to call it quits and what he plans to do with his life after Saturday. Among other things, Ortiz, who is scheduled to be inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame the same day as UFC 148, said he was contemplating a job offer from ESPN, presumably as a commentator.

Prior to fight week festivities, Griffin joked that he would “retire from life” if he lost a second bout to Ortiz. But as his opponent pondered his next act, a more thoughtful Griffin emerged.

“Tito said something that kind of sparked me,” he said. “He said, ‘I’ll die for this.’ At first, it sounds kind of outlandish. But if you really think about it, in 20 or 30 years, if I’m remembered for anything, it’s going to be for fighting. I was never a soldier, a fireman, or a cop. I never put my life on the line in another capacity.

“This is the closest thing to be a hero I’ll ever come. So yeah, I’ll die for this.”

Griffin, a former UFC light heavyweight champ, was heartbroken after a first-round TKO loss to Anderson Silva at UFC 101 and upset following a first-round TKO loss to Mauricio “Shogun” Rua in his most recent outing at UFC 134. But each time, he kept his demons at bay by staying in the gym.

“After I got beat up by Silva, I was pretty depressed, and this weird thing happened,” Griffin said. “Every day, I just got in my car and I went to the gym. And no matter what I’m doing in life, that just seems to happen. Even if I don’t intend to, my car goes right to the gym and I work out. I just really enjoy work. It’s not something I’m ready to give up yet. You have setbacks and you get disappointed, and my frustration with the sport simply comes from me not being able to be better than I am, to keep working on things and not doing them.”

Griffin has already wrestled with Oritz on two occasions. Ortiz bested him by split decision at UFC 59 while he earned a split nod at UFC 106. While he hoped to debut new skills in Saturday’s fight, he said he wouldn’t be surprised if the rubber match played out the same as in previous meetings.

“You’ve gotta think, he fought Rashad (Evans) at this apex,” Griffin said. “The Rashad he fought … would have beat up a lot of guys. Pretty much everybody except that Jon Jones fella. But I don’t know. I watched the fight with (Matt) Hamill; he showed great striking there. We’ll see.

“I’d like to think, in my mind, I’ve prepared for every single scenario. I think once we get going, it will be the same kind of Tito, the same kind of Forrest. I think we’re both going to come in with game plans, and I think it will fall into the same rhythm it has. But I’m ready if it doesn’t.”

Whatever happens, though, Griffin isn’t putting his career on the line against Ortiz. He feels no need to look too deeply into the future. If anything, he’s just gotten better at learning from his past.

“In the middle of the journey is no time to take a recollection,” he said. “You’re still in it. I have plenty of time for doing that later.”